


And Set Me Free

by ary_patel



Category: Amazingphil - Fandom, Daniel Howell - Fandom, Danisnotonfire - Fandom, Phandom, Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Phil Lester - Fandom, dan and phil, dnp - Fandom
Genre: AU, F/F, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Sexuality Crisis, Single Parents, teacher
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:45:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ary_patel/pseuds/ary_patel
Summary: It's always just been Dan and his daughter Emily...but that doesn't stop Dan from wanting to hold on to his past a bit longer. Things start to change when Emily finds herself in Mr. Lester's drama class. A story about sketchbooks, stage lights, and learning to let go.warnings: mentions of death, mild homophobia





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello this is my first fic on ao3 so hopefully it doesn't flop! I'd appreciate if you'd give me your opinions on this, as I want to improve my writing.

“You need to wash the dishes today. Or atleast put them in the dishwasher,” Dan said to his fourteen year old daughter as he scraped a bit of sauce on his plate.

She groaned but got up nonetheless, making her way to the kitchen. “Fine, but only because I know you’re busy with work right now.” 

Dan gave her a sad smile. He knew that Emily liked spending time with him, and hated that he had to deny her that. They're pretty close. It’s always just been the two of them, Dan and Emily. 

“I’m sorry love, I’ll be done in an hour or so. You know how much I’d rather stay here,” he said as he got up and put his dish in the sink. On his way upstairs to the office he pulled her into a hug. They seemed to be doing this a lot lately, a side effect of Dans longer work days. He didn’t anticipate his job in graphic design would have him this busy. 

She pulled away a bit to look up at him. “Have fun with your call,” Emily said teasingly, knowing how much Dan hates talking on the phone. 

“Have fun with your dishes,” he mocks her tone. 

“Oh whatever.” 

-

Dan spent the next hour discussing a billboard design with a stranger in London. Well, not a stranger per say, they had met once at the studio. But he might as well be considered one. And Dan doesn’t do well with strangers. It’s awkward, tense, and way too formal. This call was no different. Dan tried to focus on what the man was saying, something about an environmental campaign? He’d definitely heard him talk about using less plastic straws. 

The whole call was a drag to Dan and he wanted nothing more but to plop down on his couch with Emily and listen to her ramble on about some new kpop group that she had found. When it was finally over, he went downstairs to find his daughter watching a baking show, the dishwasher rumbling in the background. The only light came from a street-lamp glowing through the window and the TV. Though most would find the scene eerie and maybe scold their child for straining their eyes, Dan couldn’t help but feel warm. This was home. 

He sat down next to Emily and she lowered the volume a bit, turning to face her dad. “How was it?”

He scrunched up his face. “Very tense. And a bit awkward.”

“Worse than the other ones?” 

He thought for a second. “No, it was a slightly better.” 

She smiled, but not big enough to show her dimple. A sympathetic smile. “Well that’s a good sign. You’re getting less bad at your job.”

At that Dan shoved her. “Rude. I’m great at my job. I just don’t like talking to people.” 

“Fair enough. But you like talking to me.” 

“Yeah, that’s because you’re my daughter.” 

“So if I wasn’t your daughter then you wouldn’t talk to me?”

“Emily, if you weren’t my daughter then I wouldn’t even know you,” Dan laughed.

“Let’s say theoretically you still knew me, would you–“ 

“Wouldn’t that be creepy though? A grown man talking to a fourteen year old girl?”

The girl opened her mouth, but then decided against whatever she was going to say and slowly closed it. 

“Hah, I win.” 

“Oh be quiet.” She sounded annoyed but the way she leaned into Dan said otherwise. Dan put his arm around her shoulder and sighed contentedly. 

“How was your first day back?” 

“Mmm, it was okay. Drama class was nice though. I’m glad I signed up for that,” she replied. “The teacher seems really fun.” 

Dan doesn’t say anything so she decided to continue. “He’s very enthusiastic and he can sing and dance really well.”

“That’s pretty cool, I’m glad you like him. You know you’re stuck with him for the rest of the year.” He props his feet on the coffee table in front of them, sinking further in the couch. 

“Yeah. My art teacher on the other hand is absolutely terrible. She’s so boring. You can tell she doesn’t want to be there.”

“Oh yikes art is a yearlong class isn’t it?” 

Emily sighs. “Yep.”

“Aw that sucks. Hopefully it’ll get better?”

“I think it’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll even make a friend, who knows?” 

-

Emily watched as the kid across from her rummaged through their pencil case for ten minutes until giving up and dumping everything out onto the table. A slew of colored pencils, all but the blue one, rolled out of the bright red bag. After realizing that the blue pencil was nowhere to be found, the kid sighed and started putting everything back in the case. 

“You can borrow mine if you want?” Emily offered as she held hers out. 

They looked up at her and back down to the pencil hesitantly, their eyes lingering on the name printed into the side of it. “Are you sure, those pencils look expensive. Faber Castell, right?” 

“It’s fine, I really don’t mind. And I’m not sure how you’re going to draw the ocean without any blue so you might as well borrow it,” Emily said with a reassuring smile.

They took one last glance at her before carefully grabbing the pencil from her hand. “You’re incredibly nice, letting a stranger use your 45 pound pencils. How did you get your hands on these anyways?”

“My dad is an art freak. And we don’t have to be strangers.” She stuck her hand out. “My name’s Emily.”

They shook her hand, returning the gesture. “I’m Caroline. So your dad likes art?” 

“Yeah, he’s really good at drawing.”

“Ooh is he an artist? Like as a job, I mean,” she asked. 

“Kind of? He’s a graphic designer.” Caroline tilted her head in confusion so Emily decided to continue. “He designs billboards and stuff.” 

“That’s cool, I want to do something in art, that’s why I asked.” Her eyes widened a bit, “Sorry if I was being invasive or something.” 

“No you’re fine! I get questions like that all the time.” 

There was a lengthy silence where the two girls realized that they had drawings to tend to and only ten minutes left in class. The only sounds were the friction of the colored pencils against paper and the light chatter of their classmates. It was amusing really, the sudden stop in conversation. 

Before long the bell rang out into the classroom and students shuffled to collect their things. Caroline rolled the blue polychromo towards Emily. “Thanks again, by the way.”

Emily smiled. “Of course! What class do you have next?” 

“P.E unfortunately. What about you?”

“Drama.” 

“Oh.” 

She lifted her brow. “What, is something wrong?” 

“No– uh no nothings wrong,” Caroline said quickly, smiling to reassure her. “I’ll see you tomorrow right?” 

“Yep, I’ll be here.” 

They said their goodbyes and Emily rushed to her next class. She wanted to make a good impression, and arriving early would certainly help. 

She was second to arrive, greeted the teacher first, and sat attentively in the front. That oughta get Mr. Lester’s attention. The rest of the students filed in, some talking in groups and others lingering on the outside, not really saying anything. Mr. Lester was going around the room and making small talk with the students sitting by themselves. It was nice of him, really. But it wasn’t long before he waltzed up in front of Emily, bubbly as always. 

The first thing she noticed about him was his socks. They were really colorful and contrasted with his black trousers, which were slightly too short. That made sense though. He was quite a tall person. 

Emily then averted her eyes to his face, cursing herself for being weird. “Hello!”

Luckily he didn’t seem to notice her staring. That or he didn’t bother to say anything. “Hi! Remind me of your name again...”

“Emily.” 

“Nice to meet you Emily, I’m excited to have you in my class this year.” He spotted an empty desk beside her and sat down. “I’m trying to get to know my students better, so tell me about yourself.” 

She was surprised how genuine this sounded, half expecting him to ask out of courtesy. But no, of course Mr. Lester wants to know his students. “Well, I like drawing. And sometimes I sing.”

“Ah that’s cool, a lot of people in this class are into drawing. I have a feeling we’re all going to get really close. This is a good bunch. And we do a lot of singing here, so I think you’ll enjoy this class.” 

He winked and stood up, but instead of going to another person, he walked to his desk. He did something on his computer and turned on the projector. Emily decided to take this time to look around Mr. Lester’s classroom. It was fairly roomy, half of it filled with desks and the other empty with a mini stage against the wall. Speaking of walls, his were covered. Motivational posters, class rules, acting tips, famous quotes, you name it. It was there. 

Mr. Lester cleared his throat and everyone looked up. “Let’s begin class now. I’d appreciate if you guys didn’t talk for the next half an hour, as I already gave you twenty minutes to just do whatever you want. Is everyone okay with that?” 

The class erupted with various responses, some saying a simple ‘okay’ and others a ‘yes sir’ 

The teacher gave a thumbs up. “Great! In the beginning of class I went around and started to get to know some of you. I realize that you guys probably have no idea who I am, and to you I’m just your sixth period teacher. I would like to change that, as I think it’s healthy to develop good relationships with people you’re going to be with for a year. So, may I present to you,” he clicked the device in his hand and gestured to the screen, “Mr. Lester 101!” 

Emily smiled at the PowerPoint that had appeared. People behind her cheered, some laughing at the intentional dramatic and animated tone that he used. 

The teacher talked about how he loves cooking and bright colors, which was unsurprising. He apparently went to university for film post production before realizing he would rather be the person on the screen instead of the person editing it. Then Mr. Lester went on to talk about what annoys him and listed off chewing gum in class, rudeness, and bullying. All of which is pretty standard for a teacher. Emily made a mental note about the gum, not worrying about the other two. She was a decent human being, after all.

 

School ended soon enough and Emily found Dan curled on the sofa sketching something in his sketchbook. She quickly glanced at the drawing and saw a portrait of a woman and frowned. She’d seen Dan sketch this woman a million different times, yet he would never tell her who it was. 

The first time Emily had asked was when she was six. Her father had ignored her question but when she persisted, he told her she was too young and would tell her in a few years. The next time was when Emily was ten, wondering when she would finally be old enough to know. She’d asked several more times after that, getting nothing but the same answer over and over again. 

Now Emily understood that Dan would tell her who the mysterious figure was when he was ready, but she had thought about it a lot. The woman had high cheekbones and thin lips. When Emily looked in the mirror, she could point out the same features along with some of Dan’s swirled in. 

Deep down she knew it was her mother. 

Mother. That word was strange to think about. She never knew her other parent, she doesn’t think she’s ever seen her besides birth. For some reason, it didn’t bother her that much. Her and Dan were content. 

Emily continued to the kitchen, not planning to bother her father about his past. He had boundaries, and right now wasn’t the time to push him. She filled up two glasses of water, drinking from one and setting the other on the coffee table in front of Dan. 

He looked up at the clinking sound and set his sketchbook to the side. “Thanks,” He said picking up the glass. 

Emily drank the last of hers. “Mhm.” She put her empty glass in the sink and plopped down next to her dad. “I made a friend today.”

“That’s my girl, what’s their name?”

“Caroline.”


	2. Chapter  Two

Phil was making stir fry when Caroline had mentioned Emily. Initially, Phil thought it could be another student that his daughter had befriended. But the way Caroline went on about the dimples and enthusiasm made him start to believe otherwise. 

“She’s really kind. I lost one of my pencils so she let me borrow hers.” She says, leaning against the kitchen counter. 

The food in the pan sizzles as her dad starts to stir it. “That was nice of her. Did you say thank you?”

“Of course, I’m not rude. If anything I probably thanked her too much.”

Phil looks up at her briefly before continuing their dinner. 

“They were the expensive kind, I felt weird using them.”

“I think she trusts you.”

“That fast? It's only been a day.”

“I don’t know, she seemed like a pretty open person.” 

“I guess, yeah.” 

The sizzling died down as he poured the meal on to two plates. Caroline walked over to her dad and grabbed both dishes, setting them down on the coffee table in their lounge. Movie night. She got settled on the couch, reaching over to pick up a stray throw pillow that had somehow fell on the floor. Putting the pillow behind her back, she sighed contentedly. 

The pan clattered as Phil put it in the sink. “Coke or seven up?” 

“Mmm, coke?”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“It’s a difficult decision.”

Caroline thought over it and went with the seven up, since they had more of it and she wanted to save their coke.

Phil brought two seven ups, sitting down next to his daughter. “Can I pick the movie?”

Caroline groaned. “You’ve picked the last four times now.”

“Yeah but I want to show you the rest of the Star Wars movies.”

She picked up the plate and set it on her lap, swirling her fork through the noodles before having a bite. “What the fuck?”

Phil flicked her arm, but his daughter knew that he didn’t actually care or not if she swore. He’s a teacher, he hears kids curse all the time. “What’s wrong?” 

“It’s really good,” she says, about to take another fork full. 

“Why do you sound surprised?” 

“I’m not, I swear! It's not like that Dad, you know you’re good at cooking. I just–”

“I’m just teasing, Carrie. Stop blabbering.” 

She felt her face heat up. “Can you just play your space movie now?” 

“Oh so now you’re eager, huh?” 

She whined and told her dad to be quiet to which he just laughed and started the film. 

-

A project. It’s the third day of school and there’s already a project. Of course Caroline had expected this, but she was a bit overwhelmed by the immediacy of it. Add the pressure for it to be perfect - especially since this was a group project and she didn’t want to sink anyone else’s grades - and she had herself a nagging feeling in her stomach. Something that said, ‘Hey, you could be doing that art project right now. Why are you still sitting there?’ 

She knew she would be overworking herself if she did any more work than she already had, so Caroline kept herself planted on the living room floor. She was leaning against the sofa, her back pressed against it. Her dad’s legs were inches away from her side. She could feel static in her hair from the friction of her head and the cushions, the parts of her hair that had fallen out of her ponytail sticking up to Phil’s fuzzy pajama bottoms. The couch was littered with syllabus papers in messy stacks. 

“Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“How many more of those do you have left?”

Phil paused for a second and took his eyes off the sheet in his hands, scanning the couch. “This is my last stack, so like four more papers. You want to sit up here with me?”

“My bum hurts.” 

Phil laughed and moved some stacks to the coffee table, patting the spot next to him. Caroline stood up and stretched, her hands above her head. 

“Thanks,” she said as she collapsed on the sofa. “I’m working on the art project with Emily.”

“What’s the project on?” 

“We have to decorate a bunch of stars to put around the school. Mrs. Malcolm gave each group like 20 of them.” 

“That’s a lot,” he said putting another paper on the coffee table. 

“Yeah. I feel like she’s just trying to keep us busy.”

 

The next day in art, Emily and Caroline made two stars each. After hearing that the project was to be complete by Monday, they realized they had a bit of a problem. 

“Emily we only made four stars in an hour. We still have sixteen more,” Caroline said as she zipped her backpack.

“Oh shoot.”

“How the hell are we going to find the time to do that?”

“Umm let’s see…” Emily tapped her fingers on the table in front of them. “We certainly won’t be able to finish this in class.” 

“Definitely not.”

“You could come to my house so that we can work on it on the weekends too?” 

“Uhh–” 

“Only if you’re comfortable with that, of course. If not we can just do it over face time or something,” Emily added. 

“I can come over, just probably not on the weekends. I have dance then.”

“You dance?”

“Yeah, something that my dad put me in when I was little. He did dance as well and he wanted me to be able to have the same experience.” 

“That’s cool,” Emily said as she put her pencil case in her backpack and zipped it up. “Quick question?” 

Caroline leaned her elbows on the table, her book bag already on. “Yeah?” 

“This might be a bit invasive but are you related to Mr. Lester? You guys look alike and have the same last name. And he always talks about his daughter who’s in the same grade as us.”

“Yeah he’s my dad. Wait he talks about me?” The calm and collected expression she wore had now changed into a kind of panic. 

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad!” 

She groaned and buried her face in her hands. “God, that’s embarrassing.” 

“Hey, he doesn’t go into much detail if that makes you feel better.” 

She pokes her face out. “What does he say?” 

“Stuff like, ‘I made my daughter watch Star Wars with me last night.’” 

“Oh okay that isn’t that bad.” 

“See,” Emily says, standing up and pushing in her chair. Caroline stands up straight. 

They both start walking towards the door when Caroline freezes. “Wait.”

“What happened?”

“Give me your phone.” 

Emily dug through her bag and pulled it out, handing it to her classmate, her eyebrow raised.  
She typed something in and handed it back to her.

“My phone number so that we can meet up.”

“Oh yes. That would be helpful.”

“Yep. I’ll see you later today then?” 

“Uh huh.”

-

“I don’t know how I feel about leaving you with some strangers all afternoon,” Phil said as he pulled into Emily’s driveway.

“They’re not strangers.”

“I don’t know her parents. They might as well be.” 

He parked the car and Caroline turned to face him.  
“You could come with me?” 

“What?” 

“Like inside. Talk with her parents for a bit so that you know they’re not psychos – But I highly doubt they are.

“Alright. But you owe me for making me socialize.” 

They got out of the car and walked up the steep hill to the front door. There were a few steps up to their porch, which had two chairs and a small table. 

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Caroline said as she pressed the doorbell. 

A moment later the door swung open to reveal a lanky girl with dark hair, and a man behind her with similar features. “Hello! Come in,” she said, stepping out of the doorway. 

“Hi!” 

The two of them walked into the house and took off their shoes, placing them on the shoe rack after Dan gestured to it.

“I’m Daniel by the way, but you can call me Dan,” he said, sticking out his hand. 

The other man shook it. “Philip, but most people call me Phil.”

“Nice to meet you, Phil.” 

There was a lengthy silence where they all looked at each other with small smiles on their faces. Emily turned to Caroline. “Shall we go upstairs?” 

She nodded. “We shall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a bit short but it took forever to write. I started school again so it’s been hard to find time to write but I’m doing my best :) Look forward to some phan content next chapter!


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Dan and Phil bonding time

Emily took the lead and disappeared down the hall, Caroline trailing slowly behind her. Phil watched until his daughter was out of view, his head attention turning back to the man in front of him.

“Would you like to stay for a while?”

“If that’s alright.”

“Oh, of course,” he said, nodding towards the lounge. “Let’s go sit down.”

The walls of the room were an off white with paintings decorating the walls. There was a glass coffee table in the center, various house plants framing the room. It was nice, very nice.

Phil’s eyes were drawn to a certain painting right above the fireplace. A beautiful sunset, though it was a lot less neat than the ones scattering room.   
It didn’t have that controlled tone and professional touch, but the artwork still looked like it had been created by someone who had been practicing a lot. Perhaps a uni student?

“Emily painted that one.”

Phil turned to Dan, “It’s really good, I’m impressed.”

He smiled fondly. “I’ve been teaching her for a while.”

“It shows. She’s very talented. Academically and artistically.”

“Oh yeah, you’re the drama teacher right?” Dan shuffled a bit, crossing his leg on top of his knee.

“That’s me.”

“How’s that, working with kids?”

Phil let out a breathy laugh. “It’s interesting, to say the least. You meet a lot of different types of people.”

Dan nodded.

“Different backgrounds, hobbies, interests, and such.”

“Hobbies?”

“Yeah, this one girl in my first class is obsessed with making bird houses.”

“Well that’s certainly creative. And helpful for the environment. ”

“Mhm.”

There was a bit of a break in conversation. It wasn’t awkward, more like a comfortable silence where Phils eyes wandered to different paintings   
around the room. Dan stared at the fireplace, fiddling with his hands and a small smile on his face.

It was nice to talk to someone around his age every once in a while. Sure, he had coworkers and friends, but it had always been difficult to make plans. They usually opted for texts and a few Skype calls, which was the bare minimum to keep in contact.

Dan craved this in-person interaction. He missed the sound of laughter without static, smiles without pixelation. He missed his friends being up close and real, bumping shoulders when sitting on the couch, arguing about which movie to watch.

Yet somehow he felt completely satisfied with this interaction with Phil, despite it lacking the fondness that he was craving. Maybe he’s just going insane.

Dan dropped his foot that was settled on his opposite knee, opting to cross them at his ankles instead. “Do you want something to drink, wine maybe?”

“Wine sounds great, actually.”

The host stood up. “You coming?”

“Right, yes,” the other man said, standing up.

Dan led way to the kitchen, stopping in front of an almost empty cabinet. “We only have red, if that’s okay.”

“That works. I prefer red anyway.”

“You have good taste,” he said, handing Phil a glass.

“Thank you.”

Dan couldn’t tell if he said that in response to the compliment or the glass, but he didn’t really think it mattered. Instead of asking, he made his way back to the lounge, setting the bottle and glass on the coffee table. Phil followed, and the other man poured Phil’s glass first out of courtesy.

They had sipped on their drinks for a minute in silence before Phil decided to break it. “I don’t know that much about you. Tell me about yourself.”

Dan shuffled to face Phil properly. “Uhm, let’s see. I work as a graphic designer. I do a lot of art in my free time, and according to Emily I can’t walk more than two feet away from my sketchbook.”

The other man laughed. “Is that your sketchbook right there?” He said, pointing to the dark green, ring bound object on the mantle.

Dan facepalmed. “Yes, actually. It sure is.” He sighed into his hand. “I should really move that to the office or something.”

“Nah, then you’d have to walk all the way there just to do a quick sketch.”

“You’re right. I should tell Emily that,” he said, moving his hands to brush his curls out of his eyes.

Phil sips some of his wine. “You guys seem pretty close.”

“We are. You know, when it’s just the two of you, you end up relying on each other more than anything.”

Something sparked in Phils brain, something that triggered a sense of familiarity, mixed with a bit of tenderness. He knows. Oh he definitely knows.

He’s in the same situation with Caroline, though it wasn’t always like that. There used to be three instead of two. But with that thought will come others, and Phil doesn’t want that. He’s willed himself to not think about the times with his wife, the times when life was like honey, slow and sweet. It’s nothing like that now. It’s busy and fast and punctual.

“I know how you feel.”

Dan was in the middle of sipping his drink when he froze and his eyes widened. He moved the glass from his mouth. “You too?”

This time Phil was sighing into his palm. “Yeah.”

“Oh god, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m so sorry, Phil.”

“It’s fine, it shouldn’t be affecting me this way after so long. I already did my grieving.”

Dans heart sank. Grieving. Phil's wife…

Everything around them suddenly became a lot sharper, a lot more breakable. It was like someone had dropped a rock on the both of them, their chests heavy and tight. Dan felt bad, really bad. At least Emily’s mother was still alive. God knows where she is but Dan was positive she was still on this Earth. Suddenly he was a lot more grateful.

“What about you?”

Dan looked up from his lap.

“I’ve already spilled my bucket of dark secrets, so it’s your turn, Howell.”

“I’m going to need more wine then, hold on,” He said, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. Phil laughed and Dan smiled at the fact that his tactic worked. He didn’t want Phil to be upset, especially since this was the first time they’d met. What a great first impression, making him cry in the first hour.

He filled up both of their glasses and curled back into the couch, lifting his legs off the floor and crossing them in front of him. Phil adjusted a bit so that he was facing Dan.

“Okay so let us start from the beginning,” Dan said enthusiastically.

Phil giggled at his sarcasm. “Alright.”

“Back when I was in uni, I met this girl. She was lovely, very smart. She was a fine arts major.”

Phil nodded and took a sip of the wine.

“Her name was Marissa, Marissa Daley. We dated for two years. We loved each other.

“Then when I was twenty, she found out that she was pregnant and everything went downhill. Let me tell you, this woman was independent as hell. She had a goal and she would work hard until she got there. Marissa had her whole life planned out, our whole life. She already had an idea of what she wanted her future to look like.

“As you can imagine, in her eyes a baby would have ruined everything. She would’ve had to juggle a kid with university. She almost got rid of it.” His voice wavered, and Phil definitely noticed.

“Dan, you can stop if you want.”

“No,” he took a deep breath, “I need to get through it.”

Phil nodded, biting his lip.

“I argued with her, we both said some things. She ended up giving her to me and leaving.”

“Shit, Dan.”

“Yeah.”

They sat for a bit, Phil staring off and Dan putting everything he had in him to make the burning in his eyes stop.

He needed this. He needed to talk about it. Talking about it should give him closure, right?

That’s what his therapist said about drawing. Draw out your feelings, it’ll settle you down. But that never works. He’d been trying since Emily was born. All he’d got was a curious little girl and a chest of sketchbooks filled with the same woman.

“Sorry, I think I pushed you too much,” Phil said softly, still staring off.

“No, that’s okay. I needed to be pushed.”

He turned to Dan. “Needed?”

“It’s hard for me to open up about this stuff. I wanted to talk about it, rip the bandaid off.”

“I get what you mean. You need to find closure.”

“Exactly.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter won’t be so heavy I swear


	4. Chapter Four

They both finish off their wine, ditching the heavy talk in favor of reality TV. It turns out both men have a love for Kitchen Nightmares so they settle on that.

Dan turned off the lights in the lounge, leaving on the dim lamp in the corner. Before sitting back down, he grabbed two blankets from the little basket they had next to the sofa. He handed Phil the black one, which is usually his, and settled for Emily's red one. Thank god he had washed them recently. There had definitely been some instances where they spilled food on the blankets.

The other man thanked Dan and nuzzled into it, sighing contently. The two men sat, glossy eyed, staring at the television.

"What do you mean you've never heard of The Sims before?" Emily got up from the bed and picked up her laptop from the floor. She returned to her spot, except this time she laid on her stomach, propped up on her elbows. "You're missing out on so much."

Caroline scooted closer to her friend. "I mean, I'm not really the video game-type of person."

"The Sims doesn't count as a video game. It doesn't have levels or goals or anything like that."

"Well I mean it's still a game on a computer."

"Shush. We're playing Sims."

"Alright alright."

Emily moved the laptop so that it was in the middle of them, clicking on the create new household option. They decided to create themselves in the game, picking their features and laughing about the more unusual clothing items.

"Okay last step is to choose personalities."

"Wow this game gets really specific. Next thing you know it'll program my Sims favorite food or something."

Emily laughed and shook her head. "That would be a bit creepy, don't you think?"

"Well yeah. But asking whether I'm romantic or arrogant isn't?"

"Fair point."

Caroline sat up a bit straighter. "But just to clarify, I'm definitely more of a romantic."

"Oh, of course you are," she said as she nudged the other girl.

Caroline nudged her back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you seem like a flirty person."

"And how would you know that?"

"You just give off that vibe I guess."

Emily clicked on the romantic personality trait.

"What about you?"

"I don't think I am. I've never had a serious crush on anyone before."

Caroline snapped her head to look at the other girl.

"How?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "None of the guys are really that great."

"I mean there's nothing wrong with not having crushes."

"Yeah. I feel like I haven't found the right person yet."

"That's perfectly okay. We're still young, Emily. Take your time."

The girl looked up from her bed sheets. "Thank you. Like genuinely, thank you."

"Of course," Caroline said. "What's your type again?"

Emily shoved her. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would, that's why I asked."

"You're not going to set me up with some dude right?"

"I would never."

"I think you're lying but I trust you so I'm going to tell you anyway."

"You trust people too easily. That could bite you in the back later, Howell."

"Oh so were calling each other by last names now, Lester?"

"Well I guess so. Now get on with your dream boy."

"Fine, fine." Emily thought for a few moments. "I feel like he would have to be respectful and definitely kind. Also a good listener. Maybe even be able to cook."

"Mmm you sure do have standards."

"Hey, I would like to be happy in my future relationship."

"Nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying that not many guys are like that. What you are looking for, my friend, is a girl."

"What?"

"I'm just saying. You ever considered it?"

Now that Emily had thought about it, she never really thought of girls as an option. Would she be opposed to it? She didn't know. How was she supposed to know? Could that mean that she could possibly be... No.

But what if she actually is. Maybe that's why she's never really liked any of the boys. That would make sense.

The thought left a weird feeling the the girl's stomach so she opted to ignore it. "Yeah, I just did."

"And what did you decide?"

"I'm not."

"Okay, then you just have high standards."

"Exactly."

Emily turned back to her laptop, remembering the game.

"You know what we should do?"

"What, Caroline?"

"Make you a dream boy sim."

Emily face palmed. "Why are you like this."

"Hey, are you judging me," Caroline said as she poked the other girl's back.

Emily turned her back away from her.

"Ha, you just gave me better access to a tickle spot."

"Don't you dare," she said, covering her sides with her hands to protect her.

"Fine, fine. But only because you looked like you were about to jump out of your skin."

"Rude. I just don't like getting tickled."

"It's true."

The girls turned to the new voice to find Dan standing in the doorway. "Last time I tickled her, she almost broke my rib from kicking so much."

Caroline laughed.

"Anyways, sorry to ruin the fun but it's getting late and I think your dad wants you home."

The time on the laptop reads 11:15. Caroline stands up, Emily copying her actions. They make their way downstairs. Phil is leaning against their kitchen counter, looking surprisingly refreshed for the late hour.

"Thanks for having me, Emily."

"Anytime, my dude."

Phil smiles at his daughters manners. Dan catches Phil's eyes and they stare at each other stupidly for a few seconds. 

For some reason, Phil is really glad that he chose to stay and talk to Dan opposed to just dropping his daughter off and leaving. He had a fun night, certainly better than answering emails until 2am when he finally gets tired.

"Can we do this again next Friday?" Emily asked. 

Caroline nodded, remembering the abandoned pile of stars still on Emily's bed. 

"That's okay with me. Phil?" 

"Yeah, I can do Friday." 

"Perfect. Here, let me give you my number so that we can plan and stuff." 

The two men traded phones, Phil noting the sleek black finish on Dan's. It looked expensive. That art job must be paying well. 

He saved his number under his name and they both put their phones back into their pockets. 

"We should get going soon." 

"See you on Friday then?" 

"Friday."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took weeks to update! I promise I'll get better about that.


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